Business fears “serious action” is needed to reduce fuel demand as Labor warns of long-term ‘threat’.

Australian business groups have warned governments to consider ways to reduce fuel demand and boost support for struggling businesses as the fuel crisis continues.

Also on Sunday, the federal government urged Australians to stick to their Easter travel plans – if they can – but the environment minister, Murray Watt, warned the fuel scare was “not going away anytime soon”.

Ahead of a national cabinet meeting tomorrow, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) and state chambers of commerce presented what they called a “four-point strategy to solve the fuel crisis”.

They say businesses need help to save fuel, and suggest that drastic measures may be needed to reduce demand.

“ACCI appreciates the steps the government has already taken, but efforts must be stepped up to ensure Australian businesses navigate this crisis in the right way,” said its CEO, Andrew McKellar.

The trade groups’ plan included a call for the federal government to “work with partners” to help move oil from the Middle East. But they say it must try to find new markets to save fuel and work closely with oil companies and petrol stations to ensure a good supply of goods.

The plan also recommended measures to “manage demand” and help conserve fuel. ACCI and its partners did not explicitly call for a fuel ration, as One Nation’s Barnaby Joyce suggested, but said “a number of steps” should be taken.

“If necessary, these should naturally start with voluntary measures and can progress, if necessary, to more serious interventions in line with the need to save fuel,” the trade groups said, noting that some firms are already working to reduce fuel consumption and control employee travel.

Various sectors, including aged care, agriculture, housing and waste management, have started asking for government support to combat rising fuel prices. ACCI and its partners said federal and state governments must consider cash flow support, financial availability, emergency assistance, and “manpower retention measures”. Guardian Australia understands that some housing groups are already considering whether a form of User-style income support may be needed.

Watt said the government was working to find more fuel resources, but warned that the crisis would take a long time.

“We are all in favor of this being resolved as soon as possible, but the thing we have to remember is that even if this conflict were to end tomorrow, there will be a long tail,” he told Sky News.

“We have seen many other oil fields in the Middle East destroyed or destroyed as a result of this conflict.” So, unfortunately, this situation is not going away anytime soon.

Watt said petrol distribution is not among the government’s immediate plans. The Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, said on Saturday that mandatory measures were not his priority, and the government is choosing voluntary measures to manage the fuel issue, such as asking Australians to buy as much fuel as they need.

Watt said: “We’re pulling a lot of steel to make sure we get the fuel where it’s needed.” And we ask the people of Australia to be reasonable in their decisions.

“We want to see people go ahead with their holiday plans. We recognize that there will be families who will need to make tough decisions based on their budget. Everyone will be in a different position there. But as a general rule, we don’t want to see people decide to cancel their holidays because of concerns that they might not be able to get fuel.”

Andrew Hastie, shadow minister for industry, said Australia should consider expanding domestic oil drilling. On ABC’s Insiders, he also proposed unconventional methods such as melting coal to produce liquid fuels, an expensive and dirty process that was not widely used around the world.

“I think we need to do research in this country. We should drill in this country for unconventional oil, shale gas. We should also talk about using coal,” said Hastie.

Hastie says he believes the United States is losing credibility as its war on Iran continues, and that Australian support for the US alliance is also eroding.

“I think the economic pain will be more severe, and they will question the judgment of the President. [Donald Trump] while this is going on,” he said.

“We can criticize bad policy decisions, and I think this was a big mistake. Iran has been able to hold the entire world economy to its rescue, and because we are at the end of a very long supply chain, we are going to suffer now.”